Conference is about to start!!

So on Saturday we had a nice win against North Lake.  Won in 3; got some playing time for most of the team but we also got to work on some specific aspects of our game that we needed to.  We remain a work in progress, but the good thing about that is we will definitely be playing at our best when play-offs come around.

Since I'm calling this the midpoint of the season, lets take a look back at some of the high points:

1. The response of our team after the coaching change.  I became head coach about 4 days before the girls reported for fall camp.  I cannot tell you how great they were.  They did nothing but respect the new coaching staff right away and get to work.  This is both a tribute to the players and to Alaena (the previous head coach) for recruiting high character individuals.

2. We started the season going 3-1 at the Brookhaven tournament, and were 2 points away from going 4-0.  A fantastic start to the season with such a young team.

3. Our first home game had a fantastic crowd and was a great win.  Our associate AD thinks it was an attendance record.  Hopefully we can break that soon.

4. The maturation of our team in front of everyone.  We still have our low points (see @Navarro and game 3 vs. Blinn) but we also have our major improvements.  We're starting to be able to adjust on the fly and limiting our hitting errors.

I'm really looking forward to starting conference tomorrow and seeing what we're made of.  It should be a fun ride.  Come out and watch us if you can!

Another update

So another week has passed without communication from yourstruly.  Let me get you up to speed.

On Saturday we had a tri-match with Trinity Valley and Eastfield.  We split, beating Eastfield.  On Tuesday we played our first true road game of the season at a much improved Navarro.  We beat them at home 2 weeks ago but we could not beat them at their place.  We had a phenomenal practice Wednesday and hosted Blinn last night.  One of my old club players plays for them so it was good to compete aginst her.  We had our moments, including a 22-18 lead in game 2, but Blinn took us out of our game and won in 3.

So what do we do?  Our effort level is getting better and our individual skills are improving.  Our main goal is learning that killer mentality.  We've had a lot of opportunities this year to win close matches but we haven't closed it out a lot of times.  If we can learn to do this we can be ok.   

We've got a home match tomorrow against North Lake and then our first conference game Tuersday at 4 pm versus Vernon.  Hopefully you can make it.  Also, we had pretty good halftime entertainment last night.  We froze some t-shirts after we soaked them and put them in rubber bands.  2 students had a race to see who could put them on the quickest.  I think it worked out ok.

Until next time...

Finally, an update!

Ok, so I'm falling a little behind.  WE played 2 matches this week, both at home.  We lost to Brookhaven in 4, where we did not give ourselves a chance to win.  Panola beat us in 3 last night.  They are a very good team and play at a level that I want to get to all the time.

I'll have some more stuff later today, but in the meantime here is a video of two of our freshmen, Mariah Everitt and Lauran James.

Mariah & Lauran

Toureny recap

I hope you're enjoying your Labor Day weekend.  We got back from Oklahoma at 9 pm Saturday night and I've been in the office yesterday and today watching film so we can identify what we have to work on.

Let me give you a quick recap.  After we beat Tyler, we had a revenge game against Paris Saturday night.  We won the first game and were right with them in game 2.  Unfortunately, of their last 6 points, we had 5 hitting errors/missed serves.  We lost 28-26.  Tough to beat a good team when we make mistakes on our side of the net.  Paris then kept the foot on the gas pedal and we couldn't respond and lost in 4.

We turned around and played at 8 am the next morning and lost to Redlands in 3.  It was not our best match and it went against our goal of improving as a team and individuals.  We can't improve if we don't work hard at the things we can control.

Our final match was against Seward County.  We played very well and won game 1 25-19.  Then we were up 24-21 in game 2 and our inexperience showed up as we made 3 hitting errors in a row.  We lost games 2, 3 and 4 by 2 points each.  Seward did a good job of putting pressure on us and we did not execute as well as we should have.

The good news is that this is all fixable in practice and with repetition.  I have no doubt we will improve this week before our next big match at home versus Navarro on Thursday.  If we work hard we can be so good, it just takes the extra effort we are all learning to give.

Final thoughts:
- Ardmore, Oklahoma was fantastic.
- Great breakfast at the hotel in El Reno.  I had a bowl of bacon each morning.
- We'll have a video up this week of one the freshmen.

Great win!

We beat Tyler in 3 this morning!  After a rough start, winning 27-25, the team won the last 2 games 25-20, 25-22.  We had some very solid moments, but also some times where we played a little hesitant and soft.  We are only going to get better and will learn from this experience.  We play tonight at 7 against Paris.  Should be a good game.

Here's a picture of the team in front of our hotel:

Oklahoma!

We just got into El Reno, Oklahoma and are settled for the night.  I'm pretty sure the girls were happy we got here quickly so they could watch "Jersey Shore", but then again who wouldn't be?

Our first match is at 11 am tomorrow versus Tyler, followed by a rematch with Paris at 7.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Great Win vs. Eastfield!

Last night the Lady Rebels had their first home match against Eastfield College, which is located in Dallas.  If the girls were nervous it did not show as they jumped out to a 15-5 lead in game 1 and never looked back.  Game 2 was a little close for a while but they ran off a few points in the end.  Game 3 was awesome as we jumped out to a 15-4 lead and coasted to a great win, 25-16, 25-21, 25-18.  Some notes:

- Everybody got on the court and contributed in a positive way.  This was a great experience as we head to our big tournament this weelend in El Reno.
- Our crowd was AMAZING!!  Both basketball teams and a lot of baseball guys were there and they made a lot of noise.  Our mens basketball coach thinks we might have set an attendance record, which I hope we break next week versus Navarro.
- Now its off to Oklahoma, where we play Tyler, Paris, Redlands and Seward.  Hopefully we will continue to improve and the girls can gain more confidence heading into conference season.
- Finally, here's a link to the season preview for one of our conference rivals, Temple College.  Temple Season Preview